PAX Impressions: "Mighty Monday": Part 4

The final part, #4, will focus on the indie titles that I saw and played at the Indie Mega Booth (or something along those lines).

Dragon Fantasy: Book 2
I enjoyed Book 1 of Dragon Fantasy, so it stands to reason that I would be looking forward to Book 2.  The style is more like Chrono Trigger (the first game was like Dragon Warrior) and the enemies were on the field as you fought (no random encounters).  I mostly watched a bit and talked the lead creator about the game.  Adam Rippon was pretty cool throughout my encounter with him.  A real down to earth guy, he was also pretty candid about the game and other things.  He also seemed interested in bringing a version of Dragon Fantasy to other systems, which would be cool to see.

Since the show was about a week and a half before the game came out, I was able to get a review copy, so a review of Dragon Fantasy: Book 2 will be here soon if you are interested in hearing more about the game.

Foul Play
I had not heard of this game until I wandered across the booth at PAX, and it looked like a side scrolling beat-em-up in the vein of Castle Crashers.  Since I like those kinds of games, I figured I would give the game a spin.

I'm glad I did.  The game is set up as a character performing a play about his life as a demon hunter.  High hitting combos and evading enemy blows would win them over and get you more points.  The presentation was really nice and I liked the concept.  The game also played pretty well, and was definitely build for co-op since the main character has a side kick helping him perform the play.  The enemies were also actors, and wouldn't die so much as lay down and crawl away when the lights were off of them.

My partner (another random dude) and I performed well enough that after the boss of the stage, we got an "encore" where enemies from the stage would rush us and we could fight them off again for more points.  It was really fun and I look forward to trying the full version.  As it stands, I did receive a review copy so in the near future I can tell you all how the full game panned out.

Galack-Z
The game has been described as taking the best of 80's anime and cramming it into a space flight/ shooter game like the original Asteroids.  After seeing it in action, that is a very good way to describe it.  The main character was named A-Tak (har har) and his look and spacecraft did remind me (and just about everyone else) of Macross/ Robotech.

The game isn't a standard shoot-em-up (shmup), either.  You can slyly go around unsuspecting foes and catch them off guard.  This is important because the bigger enemies can kill you quickly.  The ship controls in a floaty manner reminiscent of Asteroids (as mentioned before), so you have to be careful not to run into your surroundings.  Probably the best part are the missiles.  You can target several enemies in your cone, and fire a barrage of missiles (complete with missile trails) to destroy them.  Yup, Macross.

The game is slated to come out next year, but looked surprisingly far along.  The developer talked with me a bit about the game as said they started with making the core concepts solid and plan to build all of the other stuff on top of that.  Given what I saw of the game, they have a solid core intact, so we will see what all gets piled on the top.  The game looks fun, but hard, and I look forward to trying it next year!

PAX Impressions: "Might Monday": Part 3

Bayonetta 2

I enjoyed the first Bayonetta (not on hard difficulty, though), so I was anxious to see how the sequel is shaping up on the Wii U.  I really don't like her with short hair, but the game was really fun.  I was definitely very rusty at getting the Witch Time dodge at first, and the normal grunt troops were hitting me a lot.  After a few of them it was time for the miniboss, which I did much better on.  The demo ends with a gigantic boss fight, and the whole game was very flashy, as you might expect from a Platinum Games game.

The controls were responsive, and I really like that getting hit does not completely deplete the magic meter like it did in the first game.  When it's full you can activate Umbral Climax mode, which will make your attacks very powerful and hit a very wide range for a limited time.  I stood in line for 3 hours, and it was pretty much worth it.  I was apprehensive about the game heading to the Wii U (before I knew why), but it plays really well on it, and I hope it supports the Wii U Pro controller, since I recently picked one up.

Bayonetta 2 also has a touch screen play style, where you can play the whole game just using the touch screen.  The guy in front of me tried it out, the brave soul.  First thing I noticed was the massive health bar.  At least they give you lots of leeway, and it made me question just how accurate it all was.  Sliding the stylus around the screen would move Bayonetta, and flicking it up would make her jump.  Sounds good in theory, but games like that have had spotty platforming because of it.  You can tap on enemies to unleash stylish combos automatically, so I imagine it's better if you would rather watch the game than play it.  Dodging was done by flicking the stylus away from the enemy.  I had trouble getting the timing right when I could push a button, so trying to time that would be a nightmare unless they were very generous with the timing.

While the demo sometimes had Jeanne (from the first game) fighting beside you, the demo assistant was tight lipped about her being playable in the main game.  Either way, I'd like to try the release version, as the demo was fun.  Now if only we could get a costume for Bayonetta that makes her look more like the design in the first game...

WWE 2K14
The graphics appeared better than last year, but I thought last year's game looked fine until Chriz aka The Mole showed me some comparison pictures that highlighted just how bad they were.  The game was pretty fluid, but felt as fast as WWE 13.  Supposedly they were going to slow it down, but wrestlers still got up from moves quickly, which admittedly I prefer earlier in the match.

The match I played was from the "story" mode, 30 years of Wrestlemania, and it was the Undertaker vs. HHH match #2 3 (Hell in a Cell).  Thankfully I was the Undertaker.  If you have played any historical matches in any of the Smackdown vs. Raw or WWE games, you know that you are given a laundry list of things to accomplish besides winning the match, all in the name of accuracy.  Just like previous years, you don't have to do them all (but will likely get a bonus for doing so), and some of them are probably hidden.  The first two were visible, but the rest came out as the match went on.  Unfortunately, when fulfilling one of them, getting HHH to moderate damage, caused a cut-scene that also put me in moderate damage.  Yeah, not fun there.  Pretty much all of the bonus objectives I did would result in a scene of some sort, like last year's game.  I still managed to win, but I had to work for it more than I wanted to.  The match I did was pretty fun, but the "story" match reminded me of last years, which wasn't my favorite (but should have been).  We will see how the final version is later this fall.

EDF 2025
I really liked EDF 2017, and even kinda liked Insect Armageddon.  2025 goes back to the style of 2017, and played really well.  Pale Wing, from the PS2 EDF, returns and we get another "class" in the form of the Lancer.  He has a mechanical apparatus on his head/shoulders that allows him to wield heavier weapons.  It also makes him really slow.  The weapons I saw him use were a big hammer and two shoulder-mounted vulcan cannons.  Pretty cool looking, but probably not ideal for every mission, and likely best with another player to help you out.

Each demo station was set for co-op, so some random dude and I jumped on.  Since I really liked the jet armor in IE, I wanted to try out Pale Wing.  I didn't read the weapon descriptions thoroughly enough.  I though I was picking a rapid fire weapon and a grenade launcher, but I ended up with a single-shot rifle and a grenade.  The rifle was ok, but ate through energy quickly if I fired it quickly and the grenade...sucked.  I tried it a few times, but it flew really slowly toward the target.  After helping up my partner (he set it to hard, sigh...) I flew to the top of a building and tried to throw a grenade down on the ants/spiders below.  The grenade then proceeded to fly backwards and destroy the building I was on and kill me in the process.  Thanks, I hate you too grenade.  It was funny to watch my poor soldier fall down 300 feet while flailing her limbs around and crash onto the floor.

After waiting a bit to get help, we tried to wade through the enemies.  It didn't go so well and my partner was quickly overrun.  The problem is, the spiders were all over his body, so I couldn't rescue him.  They flooded toward me and it was soon over.  Oh well, it would have been much better on a different difficulty and if I had read all of the weapon's stats.  One cool thing I will also mention is the larger enemy spiders.  They will still shoot webs at you, but if one hits you, they will slowly drag you toward them.  It's a small thing, but pretty cool.  I imagine it will be annoying after it happens a lot, but still pretty neat.  I'm looking forward to the release of EDF 2025 since 2017 was lots of fun and this is more in 2017's style than Insect Armageddon.  I'm sure my buddy DTJAAAAM is looking forward to it as well.

PAX Impressions: "Mighty Monday": Part 2

Part two will deal with PS4 launch title Knack and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, which had its demo on the PS3.

Knack
This is the launch title for the PS4 that I wanted to play the most.  I'm not the only one since the line was at least an hour and a half.  Watching the people in front of me, I could see there were a few different levels in the demo.  After completing a section of one, it would jump to another part later in the game.  Each one had a different part of Knack's growth, from little knack getting the wood power-up, larger Knack with the wood power and a building sized Knack that could throw cars and was running around a city.  Most people got to play at least two sections...but not me (d'oh).

My portion of the demo was after Knack had acquired the wood power, so he was a step larger than his normal self while powered up.  It essence, the wood gave him a second health bar.  I made my way through the enemies and rudimentary platforming without much trouble, until the spear enemies appeared.  Before that, the enemies with crossbows were annoying since they back away from you while shooting, making it take longer to get to them since Knack doesn't really have a ranged attack.  Then the armored/ robot spear-toting enemies came in.  They would charge their lance and then throw it.  The first time one hit me, I died.  "Wow" I thought, "I didn't notice I was that low on health."  The next time, I grew suspicious.  The third time I specifically watched my health and the spear killed me in 1 hit (or did 75% damage, both of which are ridiculous).  Yeah, pretty stupid.  Knowing that, I targeted them first and went through without a hitch...until the next section.  I actually wanted to try it, since you fight the Shrek-looking orcs and you are outside.

Terrible enemies aside, I like that there were differing locales shown in the demo stages.  There was a cave, a wooden fortress and even a city block.  Knack's super moves were cool and useful, but if you die and restart a checkpoint, you don't get them back if you used them.  Another terrible decision, but hopefully they will change it for the release.  All in all, not bad, but not as fun as I had hoped.

Final Fantasy 13: Lightning Returns
I was fully expecting not to like this game, but came away pleasantly surprised and actually wanting to play more.  For a little background: I played and beat Final Fantasy 13.  I liked it enough, but it was far from the best FF game.  I only played the demo for Final Fantasy 13-2 (I do own it and will get to it one day), but really liked the changes they made (even though the main guy looks like he came from Kingdom Hearts).  Since I feel they are dragging out FF 13 for too many games (just about any other Final Fantasy game would be better), I was not expecting much from Lightning Returns.

However playing the demo changed that.  It was really fun.  You have 3 attacks and a block assigned to the face buttons.  Each attack costs a certain amount of your meter, so you have to weigh attacking more times or a stronger attack.  It's pretty action-oriented, so you will have to manually block enemies' attacks (hence the block button).  Multiple attacks can stagger an enemy, letting you do more damage.  If you've played FF13, the stagger concept should be familiar.

The best part, however, is that Lightning can equip 3 different "classes" (maybe more in the final build), and switch between them at will during battle.  All 3 have their own separate action bars, which makes the combat fluid and fun.  As a mage, throw a few high-powered fire spells, then switch to sword fighter (I don't remember the in-game class names, sorry) and unleash a flurry of weak attacks.  If they are still alive, switch to the third class and use their attack.  As long as you don't pick all of the costly attacks, you can keep up a near constant barrage of attacks to some poor sap.

The enemies you fight will appear on the map, and if you hit them with your sword, you will lower their HP before the battle starts.  Hitting them from behind will lower it even more.  However if an enemy catches you before you attack them, the battle will start with Lightning's HP lowered.  There's also some platforming and climbing over obstacles and whatnot to round out the demo.  I wasn't really interested in the game before, but now I'm hoping to play the final version, since it was surprisingly fun.

PAX Impressions: "Mighty Monday": Part 1

So as you may have already read, I was able to go to PAX Prime for one day, the last day, which I dubbed "Mighty Monday" for no reason other than to be sarcastic about getting to go on the last day, which usually is not the best to go.  I was able to play a few games, despite the stupid long lines and the massive crowds.  First up are the two Xbox One games I looked at.

Ryse: Son of Rome
The game looked really good (graphically).  The shadows and details were crisp and looked natural.  There is a noticeable difference between the next gen and the current gen (although not as big a difference as the previous to the current gen).  You attack with the X Button and block break with the Y Button.  The A Button is for parrying.  The controls were responsive, especially the parry, since it would interrupt my attacks to do it.  That's very helpful and kept the combat fun and fluid.  It reminded me of the early fights in the Batman: Arkham games, where you were supposed to be aggressive and counter when the enemies attacked.  There was also a "rapture" mechanic where you filled a meter to become really powerful for some time.  Yeah, nothing new or ground-breaker there, and would have been better if you could activate it yourself rather than just when it finishes filling up.

The demo paired people off for some co-op fights.  Executing an enemy would restore some health to both players, and you could revive a fallen friend quickly (which is very helpful with a group of guys breathing down your neck).  For my demo, a partner and I were in an arena for a few fights.  At first we had to kill a few guys, then a champion appeared, and he had flaming swords.  I ran up to take him on.  After a few block breaks and a combo, he had the skull above his head that signified he could be executed.  I tried that, and it didn't work, then I tried to attack him so he would fall into the spike pit... which also didn't work.  Then spears shot up around us and I was trapped in a tiny space with him.  Uh oh.

We traded blows for a bit while I was hitting the spears to break my way out.  I eventually did (those spears are surprisingly sturdy), but not before I lost a good chunk of health.  The champion was slain and my partner had taken out the rest of the enemies to finish the wave.  The next two waves of opponents were not as... eventful, but they were fun.  There were more of the dual flaming sword guys and even some shield guys.  Since I wasn't trapped in a closet with them, I was able to dispatch them without much trouble.  Plus, I had finally figured out that it takes multiple block breaks to get through the guards of the stronger opponents.

I like the execution mechanic, but it didn't seem to always work on the stronger guys.  There were some multi-part executions, and I had to just guess what would work, since there were no on-screen prompts.  I could deal with that but nowhere did they explain what buttons to hit.  I don't think Ryse: Son of Rome a system seller, but I enjoyed the game and would play it with a friend (especially if there is local co-op, but I don't know if there is yet).

Killer Instinct
Wow, again the graphics looked very good in KI.  I've watched several videos, but they really don't do it justice.  Admittedly I didn't try it, since it's a fighting game and the people I watched had a decent grasp on what to do, so I would just get demolished.  I do think I watched too many videos of it on Youtube, since whenever someone would do an Ultra Combo, I could hear the music, despite the fact the game audio was through the headphones.  Yikes.

Also, thinking back on it, I don't think the Microsoft booth showed off any 360 games, just Xbox One games.  I could have missed them, though, it would fit in with how MS handled the transition from Xbox to Xbox 360 (they just dropped the Xbox almost immediately).  Sony seemed to have a better mix of current and upcoming gen games to play.

Off to PAX Again

My "Mighty Monday" pass for PAX came in the mail today.  I'm happy that I get to go, but Monday was the day I wanted to go the least.  Unfortunately, by the time I was able to buy a pass, Monday was the only day left.  It sucks that in all but the last 2 years I've been able to actually get the passes I wanted (and could afford).  After they switched to a "new system", it's been a horrible experience trying to get one.  It's crap, but the people in charge don't actually care, and in fact, make light of the very people they should be helping.  I don't really know why I would expect them to, considering all the stupid stuff the guy says, but hey, I can always that people act like decent human beings...

I'm often disappointed, but that's life.

Anyway, I'm going to check out what I can on that last (and probably barren) day of the convention.  I'll of course have some posts about that and probably a podcast or two on Youtube, since those seemed to get a fair amount of hits last time.  Speaking of those, it's still funny to me that my impressions of DMC and God of War Ascension mimicked what a lot of people thought of the full versions, but people that hadn't actually seen or experienced either of them would smash on the thumbs-down button.

I'm not going as press, obviously, but I'm still hoping to make a few contacts for review purposes.  I'll probably make some business cards and just look pathetic handing them to people, haha.  Let's see what this year brings!

The Last Few PAX Impressions

A few weeks ago I was at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), and checked out a few of the upcoming offerings.  A few impressions will be written right here, a few will be with our friends at the XPound, and the rest will be podcasts on YouTube (mine and the XPound's).  Sorry to send people all over the place for this stuff, but I wanted to give some exclusive content to different places.  I have to spread the word, so here are a few impressions from some games at PAX.

Lord of the Rings:  Guardians of Middle Earth (PC)
Do you like League of Legends, but wish it had more Gollum?  Then this might be the game for you.  As far as I can tell, this is DotA with the Lord of the Rings IP.  If either is your thing, you probably already know more than I do about it, and if not, check it out.

Ragnarok Odyssey (Vita)
I actually like the 2 weeks I played of Ragnarok waaaaaay back in the day, so I was interested in checking this out.  It is a 3D action RPG set in the Ragnarok world.  I started in the middle, so I don't know yet if there are classes or player customization, but I hope so.  The game was pretty fun, as it played somewhat like Phantasy Star Online 2.  While the DS Ragnarok game seemed more faithful to the PC game, this was definitely fun.  If I had a Vita, I would pick it up.  Well, since I will eventually get a Vita, I will pick this up at some point.  I hope it has some multiplayer, but that it isn't necessary, since I doubt I know anyone that will play this.  (Get on that, DTJAAAAM!)

Street Fighter x Tekken (Vita)
I knew it would start off well when I kept trying to press the right analog nub as the X Button, haha.  Anyway, it played ok, but the sticks kept getting in the way while I was trying to play.  For some reason, it didn't feel as smooth as UMvC3 on the Vita.  Also having to use the shoulder buttons makes it more complicated that its console brethren, since you can't just plug in an arcade stick if you want.  Even though you have to buy the extra characters for those versions, there are better ways to get your SFxT on than the Vita version.  Heck, there are better ways to take a fighting game on the go (MK9, UMvC3, etc.) than this.

I also tried out Fruit Ninja for the first time, so I could get a code for the 8bit "expansion".  I have the Kinect version, but have never gotten around to playing it.  I tried the Ipad version, and it was kinda fun.  I see why people were all over that game...about 2 years ago, haha.  I'll have to start the XBLA version soon.  I also tried an indy game, that unfortunately I don't remember the name of.  It was a lot like the first Legend of Zelda, and it even had a survey in the demo so the guy could improve it.  I wish more demos actually had that in them, but only if the right people pay attention to them.

Death of the 'Classic Game'

After getting back from PAX, I check the City of Heroes site to see if they are having a Labor Day sale like most places.  The last thing I expected to see was this.  Paragon Studios is now gone.  Like Onlive and 38 Studios, they were just sent home.  No warning (that we know of), just a heaping helping of cold s**t.

I was stunned.  As far as people knew, the game was making money.  The failure of Aion dug deep, so they axed...City?!  Well, I guess they didn't attend business school, or should at least ask for their money back if they did.  Supposedly the servers will remain on until the end of November, but who knows if that will last?  So the most unique MMO, and the game with the best character creator ever made will be gone.  Forever.

This brings me to the true topic of this blog post.  It's an idea I've had for a few days, but this development brings it to the forefront.  It also illustrates my point perfectly.  Constantly connected and always/only online games help usher in the death of the classic game.

What do I mean by this?  Well, take a great game that you would consider a classic.  I'm picking Legend of Zelda for the NES.  You can find this game for a few bucks, and even pick up a cheap NES or similar device to play it.  You can download it on your Wii or 3DS.  The point is you can play it, even now.  So it can remain a classic, since you can enjoy it to this day and beyond.  You can introduce new people to it.  Let your children experience it.  Can you do that with World of Warcraft?  EverQuest?  Now, yes.  What about in 5 years?  Not likely.  10 years?  I doubt it.  These games that hundreds of thousands of people enjoy will just be...gone.  Lost.  Since they require a server, you can't even enjoy them offline.  They can't be preserved.  Therefore, they can't really be classics, as they cannot be passed on.  They can only exist as screenshots and stories.

Your grandchildren will not know what WoW is.  They will likely be able to play Legend of Zelda.

Think about that for a minute.  Strange, isn't it?  A game that at one point had 10 million subscribers will vanish.  Sure, there will exist private servers, but they cannot sustain forever.  You won't be able to snag it on eBay in 15 years when you remember how cool the game was.  The more games that required you to be online, or have no offline component, the less games that survive to be 'classics'.  These games cannot and will not be ported to other systems.  There is no "Virtual Console" for old MMOs.

They just cease to be.

And that, to me, is one of the worst fates.  Thank you Cryptic for making a great game.  Thank you Paragon Studios for making that game even better.  As many people on the forums said, you allowed me to fly.

PAX Bound!

I got my pass in the mail, but my friend still hasn't received his (8 or 10) passes.  Maybe to cut down on scalping they are sending them out to the people that only ordered 1 or 2 first?  Probably not.

This is only a one day pass.  I lagged too long thinking about the 3 day, and they sold out.  It's probably for the best, since I should only afford the 1 day pass.  This year, I'm going for "journalistic purposes" so I can report back all my impressions.  I used to go as just a fan, but this year I will be turning it into a podcast/video and blog entry(ies).  I've got to prepare some questions!  If anyone has a suggestion or request for a line to stand in/game to try, let me know in the comments and I will check it out, assuming it is there.

Also, if you are going to PAX Prime, feel free to download and read my wife's books while you wait in the long lines!  Shameless promotion!  Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member, they can be checked out for free!  I have it on good authority that you might want to wait until PAX weekend to get the best deal on the first book...